
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/3681630.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      5_Seconds_of_Summer_(Band)
  Relationship:
      Michael_Clifford/Calum_Hood, Luke_Hemmings/Ashton_Irwin_(minor)
  Character:
      Michael_Clifford, Calum_Hood, Luke_Hemmings, Ashton_Irwin
  Additional Tags:
      Snippets, Slice_of_Life, First_Time, First_Kiss, Best_Friends, Friends_to
      Lovers, Loss_of_Virginity, Implied/Referenced_Self-Harm, Suicide_Attempt,
      Depression, Childhood, Childhood_Friends, Blow_Jobs, Party, Alcohol,
      Falling_In_Love, Boys_In_Love, malum, Lashton_-_Freeform, Angst_and_Fluff
      and_Smut, Angst_with_a_Happy_Ending, Domestic_Fluff, Healing, Underage
      Relationship(s)
  Series:
      Part 5 of 5SOS_Song_Oneshots
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-04-04 Words: 1137
****** when i still see it all in my head in burning red ******
by merlypops
Summary
     'Red was the flush Michael felt when he looked at the sun through
     closed eyelids, the blush that crept across his skin on the day he
     first met Calum.'
     Michael sees red a lot - when he looks at Calum's lips or eats
     strawberries or feels scared - but that doesn't mean he's always
     angry.
     Based on "Red" by Taylor Swift.
Notes
     The title for this fic is taken from 'Red' by Taylor Swift and this
     fic kind of came to be because I saw one of those writing exercises
     about describing a colour without using its name so I'm hoping this
     doesn't totally suck!
     I hope you'll all enjoy it :) <3
See the end of the work for more notes
Michael had read once that it was quite difficult to describe a colour without
using its name but he wasn't sure that was true exactly, because Michael saw
red more than any other colour, but that didn't mean he couldn't describe it.
Red was the flush Michael felt when he looked at the sun through closed
eyelids, the blush that crept across his skin on the day he first met Calum.
Red was the colour of the mask Raphael had worn when Michael showed Calum his
favourite episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after school one day when
they were just kids.
Red was the colour of the cuts on Michael's knees when he fell over in the
playground. It was the colour of the messy heart Calum drew on the back of the
older boy's hand when he saw Michael limping out of the nurse's office with a
blotchy face and a plaster on each knee.
It was the colour Michael felt swelling in his heart when Calum gave his hand a
gentle squeeze before he towed Michael back out onto the playground.
Red was the colour of the first pair of converses Michael ever got. It was the
colour of the strawberries Calum brought in his lunchbox everyday for almost
ten years. (It was the taste of Calum's mouth when Michael kissed him softly
for the first time, his pale hands soft as they cupped the younger boy's tanned
face gently.)
Red was the colour of Michael's first electric guitar that he used to play a
largely mediocre cover of Peter Gabriel's song Red Rain to an extremely
impressed Calum.
Red was the colour of the plastic cups the pair drained of alcohol at their
best friend Luke's seventeenth birthday. It was the colour of Calum's vest and
Michael's lips and the love bites that Luke had sucked into his boyfriend
Ashton's throat.
Red was the colour of the duvet cover in the spare room of Luke's large house
when a drunk Michael gently pushed Calum down onto the double bed.
Red was the colour of Calum's cock, flushed dark and heavy as it lay thickly on
his stomach. It was the colour of Michael's full lips - as plump as cherries -
when Calum's hard cock glided between them smoothly, slick with pre-cum that
Michael couldn't seem to get enough of.
It was the colour Calum's cheeks flushed when his hips started to jerk and
Michael choked on his cock.
It was the colour Michael saw when he looked at Calum and realised that he was
in love with his best friend.
Red was the colour of the ribbon Michael tied with shaking fingers around
Calum's thin wrist when he saw the scars there for the first time.
It was the colour of the tiny spiced apple scented candle they burnt in a
little tea-light holder on Michael's bedside table when he and Calum went all
the way for the first time.
It was the soft sound of Calum's breath catching in his throat when Michael
sank in deep, the gentle drag of their full lips as the older boy tried his
hardest to make Calum feel good.
Red was the colour of Michael's kiss-bitten lips and the flush that spread down
his chest when Calum whined high in his throat as he came, fluttering around
the older boy like a butterfly.
Red was the colour of Michael's first car - this tiny battered little thing
that didn't want to start half the time - and the roses that bloomed in Calum's
front garden during the summer.
Red was the bottle of dye that Michael used to change his hair from golden to
crimson.
It was the wine that Michael and Calum drank when they were sitting out on the
decking behind Michael's house, watching the moon sparkling on the ocean's
surface as the hours trickled through their fingers like grains of sand.
It was fucking red when a twenty year old Michael came home from work late one
night and saw Calum's blood spreading out on the cold bathroom tiles like ink
on snow-white paper.
Red was the fear clutching Michael's heart as he dialled for an ambulance.
It was the panic in Michael's veins when Calum's desperate grip on him weakened
as the terror in his eyes faded to dazed shock.
It was the absolute relief Michael felt when the paramedics burst into the room
and staunched the blood before they carried the love of Michael's life out of
the room on a stretcher.
Red were the crescent moon shaped marks Michael pressed into his palms with his
nails when he fought not to cry, to stay calm for Calum as Michael waited
outside the hospital room with bated breath, praying that Calum would wake up
again.
Red was the colour of Michael's tear-wet eyes after he sat crying all night
long in the chair beside Calum's bed.
Red was the blood running down Calum's arms and glinting on the razor blade as
the lump in Michael's throat had tried to choke him.
It was the colour a bloodcurdling scream was closest to, and that was what was
trying to tear its way free of the older man.
Red was the fragile warmth of Calum's limp fingers clasped gently in Michael's
small, pale hands as he comforted himself with the knowledge that Calum was
still here, that he hadn't lost him.
Red was the life thrumming inside Michael - it was the love roaring through him
- when Calum's beautiful dark eyes finally fluttered open, saturated with
apology and regret and, above all else, love.
Red was the bright burning pain of the needle inking Michael's bicep, the dark
letters carved into his skin forevermore, three words for Calum that Michael
hoped he would never doubt again: To The Moon, because that was how much the
older man adored him.
Michael saw red more than any other colour but that didn't mean he was always
angry.
Red was Michael's lips and the collar of the puppy he bought Calum when the
younger man was released from the hospital.
Red was Michael's heart and Calum's sobs and the watery smiles that slowly
began to light up the younger man's face again as time healed him.
Red was the love that burnt through them both like a forest fire raging out of
control when they tumbled down into bed, their mouths a hot familiar slide as
they rocked against each other, pressing hot open-mouthed kisses to pale,
sensitive skin.
Red was the leaves in autumn and Calum's hand in Michael's and the taste of
sangria when they went on their first holiday together when they were twenty
three years old.
Red was love and laughter and everything Michael adored about falling in love
with his best friend.
Red was Calum.
End Notes
     I'm quite excited about this fic so I hope you all liked it!
     Please please let me know what you thought by leaving comments and
     kudos <3
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!
